Franklin ready to shoulder more work

Tuesday

Oct 29, 2013 at 12:01 AMOct 29, 2013 at 1:00 PM

David Morrison

Senior James Franklin may not be quite ready to return behind center for Missouri against Tennessee on Saturday. But when Franklin is fully recovered from the shoulder sprain he suffered against Georgia on Oct. 12, Coach Gary Pinkel said the starting quarterback job is his.

Franklin is officially "questionable" for Saturday's game against the Volunteers. He's listed as the third-string quarterback, behind redshirt freshman Maty Mauk and true freshman Eddie Printz.

Saturday will be three weeks since the Georgia game. Initial reports from CBS and ESPN said Franklin would be out six weeks at least. Pinkel set the estimate at three to five weeks a few days after Franklin was sandwiched between two Bulldogs linebackers and driven awkwardly to the Sanford Stadium grass, injuring the throwing shoulder that caused him trouble last season.

"Is he ready yet? We don't know, at all. When he feels ready, he'll play," Pinkel said at his weekly press conference yesterday. "We'll move him to the starting position when that happens."

Pinkel said Franklin threw at practice Sunday night and, while the coach wasn't at the session — he was attending the funeral of mentor Don James in Washington — he heard good reports.

Quarterbacks coach Andy Hill was there. He was cryptic about how Franklin looked.

"I was not hurt by what he did," Hill said.

Franklin was in the process of bouncing back from a rocky 2012 in a huge way before his injury, completing 67.7 percent of his passes, averaging 262.8 pass yards a game and throwing 14 touchdowns against three interceptions.

In two starts, Mauk has completed 45.9 percent of his passes for 272 yards a game, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Mauk said his preparation for the Tennessee game doesn't change with Franklin back on the depth chart.

"I'm going to be 100 percent focused, ready to play no matter what happens," Mauk said. "It's just another week."

Offensive coordinator Josh Henson said he'll have a better idea of how far along Franklin is in the recovery process as the week progresses.

"We have to get a feel for where he's at," Henson said. "Things are looking better for him, and we'll just kind of see where he's at."

BAGGETT BOUNCES BACK: Andrew Baggett turned off his phone after missing the potential game-tying kick against South Carolina on Saturday night and didn't turn it on again until Sunday.

When he did, he saw the profane, hate-filled messages that some people sent him via social media.

He also saw far more words of encouragement.

"There are 20-fold more positive comments from Mizzou fans. Anybody saying that Mizzou fans are terrible, absolutely not true," Baggett said. "I'm still getting positive comments. It says a lot about the Mizzou family, overall, everybody.

"The negative stuff, nobody's comment will ever make me feel worse than what I did on that field. The negative comments, I don't pay attention to that. That doesn't affect me."

Baggett said his teammates and parents have been supportive.

His mother even baked him some comfort food: brownies and roasted pecans.

"They still love me. I guess that's good," Baggett quipped.

Baggett also got some words of encouragement via Twitter from "Jackass" cast member Preston Lacy, a Carthage native. Lacy tweeted that he and Jason "Wee Man" Acuna — another member of the group whose stunts have spawned multiple television series and movies — have Baggett's back and for him to ignore the "haters."

Baggett said he's a fan.

"They're funny guys, crazy stuff," Baggett said. "Kind of wish it were under different circumstances. Still kind of cool, I guess."

Pinkel reiterated his stance from Saturday, that the Tigers made multiple mistakes to lose the game and to blame it on Baggett would be inaccurate.

"I get a little bothered by that. My players are like my kids. I get bothered when people fire at any particular player," Pinkel said. "He's a Missouri Tiger. And, by the way, he was 5 for 5 in field goals in a big win the week before. I understand fans are fans, but we're a family here.

"Obviously I get frustrated. I wish people would back off."

INJURY UPDATE: E.J. Gaines has had just about enough of this sitting on the sideline thing.

The senior, who missed the past two games with a right quad strain suffered against Georgia, is expected to return to the starting lineup this week. He said he thought he might be able to play against South Carolina, but he decided he couldn't go after practice Thursday.

"In the end, it's not about E.J. Gaines, it's about Mizzou," Gaines said. "I've been doing everything I can the last couple weeks, just coaching up the guys, telling them what they can do."

Gaines is tied for the team lead with three interceptions and is fourth on the Tigers with 34 tackles. True freshman Aarion Penton and redshirt freshman John Gibson filled in for Gaines over the past two games and each recorded his first career interception.

"Every play, even sometimes when they're on the field, I'm yelling at them," Gaines said. "And then when they come off the field, I'm telling them what they did right and what they did wrong. Just like a coach."

Junior running back Henry Josey is listed as "questionable" for the Tennessee game after suffering a concussion against South Carolina. Josey was hit for a 4-yard loss near the end of regulation, and junior Marcus Murphy took over on the Tigers' last drive of regulation and two overtime drives.

Pinkel said the training staff will evaluate Josey, who leads the team with 98 carries for 573 yards and eight touchdowns, throughout the week to see if he can play.

With sophomore Russell Hansbrough still battling a turf-toe injury he suffered against Florida, Murphy may end up handling the bulk of the load this week. Murphy, who sat out most of the Florida game with a concussion, logged a career-high 12 carries against South Carolina, scoring two touchdowns.

"It's never bad to have the ball in your hands," Murphy said. "I like making plays and contributing to the offense. I'm ready."

CLASSIC DON JAMES: Pinkel said James was so organized he even planned his own funeral to a T.

Pinkel was asked to speak at James' funeral and, when he arrived, James' widow, Carol, told him that each speaker would get only three minutes to talk.

That's how James planned it out, about three weeks before he passed away from pancreatic cancer on Oct. 20.

"He didn't want people to babble on for 10 or 15 minutes. That's Coach James," Pinkel said. "Everybody who knows him knows his meticulous organization and attention to detail. It was a sad day, but a happy day we were able to honor such a great man."

Pinkel wore a "DJ" pin, given out at James' funeral, yesterday to honor his mentor.

KENTUCKY GAME TIME SET: Missouri's game at Kentucky on Nov. 9 will kick off at 11 a.m. and air on either ESPNU or Fox Sports Net, the SEC announced yesterday.

Missouri-Kentucky and Vanderbilt-Florida are being considered for the two channels.